Finger Trap
by ALiC.P
Summary: NOT INU/SESS YAOI. After their swords get stolen by trickster demon bunnies poor Sesshomaru's only arm gets stuck to Inuyasha's with a magical finger trap. "To undo it you need to relax; there must be some amount of love between those trapped" they said... Maybe if we fake caring about each other we'll be free? No? Damn it...!
1. Ichi

**Fanfiction #14 for me – oh dear, it's been awhile since I published a humor. Fortunately this twisted little mind is still coming up with stuff.**

**This story was inspired by a short moment of the **_**The Simpsons **_**where they try to make Ralph and Bart friends. One of the beginning scenes is of Ralph at the front door eating ice cream and with a finger trap on the other hand and he's trapped his own tongue to it, he then gets Bart to put his finger in it and as Bart struggles to get away he cries out, "Get it off, get it off!" to which Ralph responds, "The harder you pull the tighter it gets."**

* * *

**It came out quite long… oh well – wait. You know what? **** it, I'm gonna drag this out. As in separate it to chapters. You know that separating line? I already have 3 of those, might as well~ :D**

* * *

• *within asterisks= sound effects • _Italicized= thoughts_

* * *

It's a nice tranquil-like day. A nice blue sky, birds chirping. The Inuyasha gang is just traveling along. Not only that the Sesshōmaru gang is traveling along. Crap they're walking toward each other. It's not going to be tranquil anymore if they keep going the direction they're going. Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha sense each other.

_Damn bastard._

_~~#~~  
_

_Damn half-breed._

___~~#~~_

So each decide to direct their group along a different path, but before they can, in front of both dogs, a trap door opens and eyes peek out.

"What the hell?"

_~~#~~_

*narrows eyes*

_~~#~~_

In front of Inuyasha is a cat-sized light brown rabbit with red eyes, which still has the trap door on top of its head.

Kagome, "Aww, that is so cute!"

Inuyasha, "Hey, get out of our way."

The rabbit sniffs, "Half-breed," it calls out in a light airy voice.

"Shut up."

Sango approaches, "It looks pretty harmless."

Miroku adds, "Yes, I don't feel an ominous aura about it."

Kilala gets close to the rabbit, sniffs, and meows. The rabbit quivers and crouches back to its hole.

Shippō gets close to the rabbit, "It's okay, Mr. Bunny, Kilala won't hurt you."

The rabbit peeks back out, "Really?"

"Yup."

Kagome asks, "Um… Mr. Bunny, why did you come out of your hole?"

The rabbit doesn't answer; it stares at Inuyasha's sword, and then hops out of his hole and snatches Tetsusaiga and leaps back into the hole, scurrying into it as fast as it can.

"Hey!" he lunges for it but the trap door closes. Inuyasha punches the door and tries to reach in and grab the rabbit but it's too late. Damn! The hole is too small for him to follow.

"Shippō, go after it!" he orders as he picks Shippō up by his tail.

"I'm not going in there!"

~~Meanwhile…~~

In front of Sesshōmaru is a cat-sized dark brown rabbit with red eyes, which still has the trap door on top of its head.

Rin, "Awww, it's a bunny!"

Sesshōmaru, "Return to your hole."

The rabbit quivers and crouches back to its hole. Sesshōmaru stares coldly at it. The poor rabbit is trembling.

"Immediately."

It feels a chill of death. Should I do it? This guy's gonna kill me if I do, but if he did it, then I can too!

The rabbit hops out of the hole with surprising speed and snatches Tenseiga and leaps back into its hole, scurrying for its very life.

The trap door closes.

*Grrr* Sesshōmaru kneels down and sprays poison on the trap door with his hand. It's gone.

"Tch."

*Gasps* "That was a bad thing for Mr. Bunny to do!"

Jaken, "Come back here you ungrateful rabbit!"

Both dogs sniff the hole in order to remember the rabbit's scent so they can track them above ground, and this works. They follow the scent on foot and eventually they come across **each other**.

They glare at each other for awhile.

Inuyasha speaks first, "Did a rabbit take your sword too?"

"….That's none of your concern."

*_wooooooo_*

*kre-ee-k*

Next to them, two trap doors side by side open up, and in each is one of the rabbits. The dogs' eyes widen and they lunge for the hole, punching the trap doors. Damn, the rabbits escaped again.

They try to remove their hands from the hole – wait….they're stuck.  
Sesshōmaru tries to keep composure as his little brother tries to frantically free his hand, as he tries to free his own hand- _This is ridiculous!_

"What kind of bull**** is this!"

In the end both brothers with all their might stand suddenly to pull their hands out and the very ground in between the trap doors lifts! As the dirt crumbles around them it is revealed why they were stuck.  
On Inuyasha's middle finger is a Chinese finger trap! On Sesshōmaru's middle finger is a Chinese finger trap! They are. Stuck to. Each other!

Sesshōmaru, "Unbelievable."

Inuyasha, "You've got to be kidding me."

Everyone stares in disbelief and then the bunnies show up.

Shoulder-to-shoulder they announce, "I am Hakeh!"  
"And I am Mateh!"  
"And together we are – HakeMate!" they pose dramatically, "Mwahahaha!"

Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru lunge for the bunnies who both jump up, hop off of their heads and land behind them.

Sesshōmaru, "Return my sword."

Inuyasha, "Give it back!"

"Never~!" they say and with that they burrow into the ground. They're gone.

Inuyasha, "….Okay what the hell was that?"

Sango, "That finger trap…"

The brothers look at each other then both pull their hands away- *Squeee-* Nothing.  
They pull again- *Squeeeee-* Nothing yet. They're eyebrows furrow. They try again – nothing. Now they pout – nothing. They show they're teeth – nothing. They're growling and insanely pull their arms, every time Sesshōmaru pulls fiercely Inuyasha is pulled, every time Inuyasha pulls fiercely Sesshōmaru is pulled, and they just keep upping the power!- *Squee squee squee squee squeeeeee-!*

"What the hell!" Inuyasha shouts as he and Sesshōmaru pull at the same time holding….

Then Sesshomaru swings his arm and sends Inuyasha into a faceplant! Nothing.

"What was that for?" he lifts his face off the ground.

"Silence. Use your claws," Sesshōmaru says oh so slightly out of breath.

"Why can't you-?" he stares at Sesshōmaru's left sleeve that has no arm in it, "Right…"

"But won't you cut your fingers off?" Kagome cries out.

"It's better that than being stuck with this asshole."

Sesshōmaru glares at him and then swings his own hand in such a way that he makes Inuyasha slap himself, the act made easier by Inuyasha being still in a crouching position.

"Y-you bastard," Inuyasha points at him with his left hand, "I…you… Go to hell," he stands up and punches Sesshōmaru in the face.

Everyone gasps and stares; Jaken's jaw has basically fallen right off.

Sesshōmaru, face still turned to the direction it was punched, eyes widened slightly, it's like he's trying to say something, and a little blood runs down his nose. He closes his eyes and he closes his mouth and swallows. Breathes and opens his eyes, "Little brother…" while turning his head Inuyasha's direction and then knees him in the gut.

Inuyasha keels over onto his knees coughing!

"Grovel, you mutt!" he growls between clenched teeth.

"How _dare_ you? Have you no respect for your older brother or for those who are stronger than you? You-cut-my-left-arm-off. And now my _only arm _is stuck-to-**you**. How do you think I feel?" *Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick!*  
"And to top it off, **rabbits** stole Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga!" *KICK! KICK! KICK! KICK! _KICK! KICK! KICK! KICK! __**KICK! KICK! KICK! KICK!***_

"Whoa whoa, you need to calm down!"  
"Lord Sesshōmaru stop!"  
"You'll kill him!"  
"Sesshōmaru!"  
"Don't worry, we'll fix this somehow!"

Everyone rushes over to the brothers' side to break it up, perhaps not the finger trap but at least the kicking.

* * *

_To be continued..._


	2. Dos

• *within asterisks= sound effects • _Italicized= thoughts_

* * *

After a _very_ prolonged period of time, Sesshōmaru stopped kicking Inuyasha and stomping him into the ground.

Now, due to the fact that it was their right hands stuck in the finger trap, it made things…uncomfortable.

It's after dark, there's a campfire, everyone's gathered around and Inuyasha, bandaged up in lots of places, sits toward the fire while Sesshōmaru sits with his back toward it. They are seated as far apart as they can be.

Everyone's eating some of Kagome's magical ninja food. Inuyasha holds the noodle cup between his knees and eats with his left hand while glaring at Sesshōmaru from the corner of his eyes.

Rin, sitting next to Sesshōmaru of course, blows on her noodles to cool them off and then asks her lord, "Lord Sesshōmaru, wouldn't you like some of Miss Kagome's ninja food? It's really quite good."

Sesshōmaru's nose is pointing down and he's closed his eyes, "No, thank you."

She stares at him and realizes the reasons, "Oh."

No free hand_s_ to eat with.

Rin sits there, looking down at her cup. She fidgets with the sticks, looks side to side, and gets up. She walks over to Sesshōmaru and stands in front of him, "Uh, Lord Sesshōmaru, I… could…" she blushes a little.

Sesshōmaru opens his eyes. He can feel everyone's eyes on him.

"Rin."

"O-okay…"

"We won't tell."

Sesshōmaru turns around and glares at the group. They immediately look away and eat their noodles again.

Rin takes a small step toward Sesshōmaru. And another and another and inches over a bit more…

Sesshōmaru stares at her as she keeps her eyes wide and steady, blushing, and slowly reaching her hand out with the sticks holding a few noodles toward his mouth – slowly, very slowly.

She's almost there, and they just keep staring at each other. She's r_ight_ ab_out_ th_ere_…

*Plop*

Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha slowly look to their right, and right between them, under the finger trap, are the rabbits.

"Whatcha eatin'?"  
"Looks fun."

*blink*

(Cue the excerpt of "Ironside" from the Kill Bill movies)

Sesshōmaru pulls Inuyasha and he allows it; Inuyasha lands on a knee and stabs the chopsticks into the ground but the rabbits duck into their hole.

"Where'd they go?"

*Plop* they appear beyond the circle.

They turn their heads toward those fluff balls, and the dogs step and leap toward them at the same time. Sesshōmaru lands first, he spins around and Inuyasha kicks at the rabbits' hole. They duck again. Both land and look around, back to back.

"There!" in front of Sesshōmaru. He spins to let Inuyasha try to get it, lands, they duck – damn it! – more flips and spins, simultaneous synchronized sliding, precise communication – there getting closer and closer, hair's breath from grabbing those little ears!

And then it occurs to the others…

"Th-they're…!"  
"Working together!"

And it's working. And it's _wonderful_.

The rabbits come out of the holes to run but before they can a foot lands on the tail of the light brown rabbit- "Uaaaaahhhh!"

Inuyasha quickly grabs it and holds it in the air.

"Maa-teeeehhh NOOOOOO!" cries the other rabbit from a distance before burrowing into another hole.

"Alright, rabbit, talk! How do we get this off?"

Flailing his arms in the air, "I don't knoooow!"

Sesshōmaru, "That's a lie."

"N-n-no! It's not, I swear!"

Inuyasha, "There has to be a way!"

"I am not going to be stuck to this half-breed another day."

Both growl at the rabbit, "Uh…uh… uh…. uh…. eh…. uh…. uh…uh… uh… the answer…. is…. with _lo~ove!_"

"What…"  
"No really, what's the answer."

"No, I'm serious. The way to get out of any finger trap is by relaxing and letting go. And…" cocks its head to the side, "if there's a problem between the two of you then you won't be able to relax, and this special finger trap is r_eally_ picky. You need not hate; you must love."

"Why would you have such a finger trap?"

"And what do you want with our swords?"

Rabbit shrugs.

*sweatdrop* (-_-)

*Plop!* The dark brown rabbit appears in front of them holding a jar in one arm, and pointing at them with the other, "INKUUU… ATTACKUUUUUUU!"

Both, "Huh?"

*_Krash!_* Right in Sesshōmaru's face a jar of ink explodes! covering a ridiculously large area, and drowning the brothers in heavy, thick, suffocating, oily, olfactory-overpowering ink.

Inuyasha lets go of the rabbit, fainting, while Sesshōmaru falls to his knees. Even unconscious, he remains dignified – unconscious, but dignified.

Awhile later, Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru begin to come to.

"Unnhhh…." Inuyasha ears flutter around and he shakes his head, squeezing his eyes and scrunching his nose.

"Hmmnnn…" Sesshōmaru frowns, his nose twitching and head nodding off. And then he spits up ink.

Ugh, it's cold…

"Guys?"  
"Lord Sesshōmaru?"  
"Inuyasha?"

Hey, but it's kind of soft over here…

"Nnn… what happened…?"

Shippō, "We had to throw you two into a lake so that the ink would wash off."

No wonder it's cold – they're soaking wet in the middle of the night.

"Even though you were both unconscious… we think Sesshōmaru still tried to drown you… subconsciously."

"Yeah, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore."

"Hnn…what are you rambling on about…?"

"You're cuddling."

Inuyasha stops snuggling into Sesshōmaru's fluffy and Sesshōmaru stops nuzzling Inuyasha's ears, the yellow eyes snapping open. Inuyasha looks up, Sesshōmaru looks down, and they stare – why…?

"Yugh!" they hastily turn away from each other trying to move– *_squeee_* and they hang there, still held tight by the finger trap.

"You idiots!"  
"You could have used that chance to set yourselves free!"  
"You weren't hating each other!"

Inuyasha, starting to blush, "That wasn't-"  
Sesshōmaru, looking away from the group, "It's part of a dog's instinct to… seek warmth."  
"Yeah, what he said."

Rin, "I knew you two loved each other."

Everyone looks at her.

"Rin," warns Sesshōmaru.

"What?"

"**No.**" He slowly shakes his head no, as does Inuyasha who is also making a 'what's-wrong-with-you?'-face.

Sesshōmaru quickly stands up and walks into the forest, pulling along Inuyasha, "Wait, where are you-?"

"Quiet."

They go into the bushes, the bushes shake, and they come back out. Dry.

Inuyasha, squinting and still being pulled along, "So… you really are a dog…"

Sesshōmaru spins around and they stare each other down. He also has some bandages on his face from having a jar thrown at him, huh, Inuyasha has bandages on his face too but from getting kicked.

Their glares are so intense that electricity shoots out and clashes midway- *_Bzzt-zzzt! bzzt bzzzzzt_*

And the others stare too, wondering what they're next move is going to be, and then Sesshōmaru speaks.

"Mutt."

"Jackass."

"Puppy."

"Cripple!"

"Eeeee…" everyone goes. Rin and Jaken gasp.

"Heh," Inuyasha smirks, "Take that, loser."

Sesshōmaru bites his lip and really cranks up the intensity of his death glare, and then sternly says, "You were adopted."

*_Gasp!_* the crowd looks at Inuyasha, and good thing Kagome is from the modern era because that totally justifies why everyone has popcorn.

"Uh… i-if that's true… then why did, why did you play with me when I was five? That's right, I still remember!"

*_Gasp!_* the crowd looks at Sesshōmaru.

"….You were born with a tail."

*_Ga-asp!_*

Inuyasha blushes, "Sh-shut up!"

"Is that true Inuyasha?"  
"Do you still have it?"

"No! I never had a-"

Sesshōmaru, "As a careless child, you got it caught in th-"

"Shut the hell up!"

"Try and make me, you bed-wetting crybaby," he retorts.

His hair stands up, his ears straighten, and "Raaauuggh!" he tackles Sesshōmaru to the ground and starts hitting him with his free fist –

"Inuyasha!"  
"Eee! Lord Sesshōmaru!"  
"Get off of him!"

Sesshōmaru then head butts Inuyasha, takes advantage and flips their positions.

Inuyasha, rubbing his forehead, looks up at Sesshōmaru, "Heh, what are _you_ gonna do without any arms?"

Sesshōmaru's face scrunches up, "You're going to wish you had never found Tetsusaiga…"

"Oh yeah? How?"

Sesshōmaru clenches his teeth, pulls back his lips growling and "Grgh!"

"Aahhhhhh! Ohmygod – oh my god! – get him off – Get Him Off – _Get Him Off_ – _**Get Him O-aww-augff! HELP!**_"

Inuyasha kicks his legs like mad as everyone comes over to pry Sesshōmaru off and save Inuyasha's precious little doggy ear.

"You crazy sonofabitch! What the hell's wrong with you? Aaaah! Aaaah! _Let go of my eeeeeeear!_"

Everyone grabs Sesshōmaru by his shoulders and tries to pull him off.

"Aaaah! Careful… or it's gonna rip right off of my head! Aaah!"

But Sesshōmaru thrashes his head around, and then an idea occurs to Miroku…

He grabs Sesshōmaru's nose and holds it shut hoping he'll let go, but he keeps growling and holding on. But then at last he slightly parts his mouth to get a quick breath and at that instant everyone pulls him back with all their might yet even though they did it Sesshōmaru lunges forward again at Inuyasha's face!

"Aaaaauuuhhh!"

This time Miroku puts his staff horizontally across the front of Sesshōmaru's chest, Kilala transformed bites one end and one of Ah-Un's heads bites the other end; the other head presses its head onto Sesshōmaru's shoulder. Kagome and Sango grab his collar and Miroku pulls by the area around the scruff and everyone pulls!

They manage to get Sesshōmaru to almost sit straight up. His breathes shake with growls, blood on his mouth and fangs and he lunges again pulling everyone forward with him but—!

"Lord Sesshōmaru, stop!" Rin shields Inuyasha.

Sesshōmaru halts.

He closes his eyes and lets out a long sigh.

* * *

_To be continued..._

_Next chapter: The End_


	3. Three

"Ow! Be careful…"

"Sorry," Kagome bandages together the leftover ribbons of Inuyasha's left ear. He has new bandages on his cheeks and nose too.

Meanwhile Rin cleans the blood off Sesshōmaru's mouth- *Pfst* he spits out some white fur, "Disgusting."

They're sitting facing opposite directions and Inuyasha tries to scoot away.

His voice shakes a little as he whispers, "Kagome… we need to find those rabbits soon… he's finally lost his mind…"

Sesshōmaru turns his head, "Next time I'll _melt_ that ear off."

Inuyasha and Kagome pull back trembling in fear- *scarred for life*

"We need to find them… _**now.**_"

Kagome nods.

All that night Inuyasha couldn't sleep because he was keeping vigilant of where Sesshōmaru's teeth were.

~~Early morning~~

"Hey!"  
"Get up."

The humans open their eyes to find Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru standing over them.

"Let's try and break this finger trap."

"Huh?"

Moments later Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru sit facing each other and with the finger trap over a large rock.

Inuyasha's up first. He viciously claws with the Iron Reaver Soul Stealer to no avail; same goes with his Blades of Blood.

Kagome's up next. She grabs an arrow and stabs down at the finger trap- *_Bzzt zzt-zz zzz zzz-ZZTT!_*

The barrier around it resists, sparks, then sends Kagome falling on her butt, "Eee!" *fwump*

Sango goes up next and brings her Hiraikotsu down upon it again and again- *_Bzzz-zzzt-zzzzt-zzzt—ZZTT!_*

Didn't work.

Miroku covers the finger trap with sutras, poses dramatically raising his staff up and brings it down, "Evil spell be gone!"

*_BzzzzzztttTT!_* the sutras explode to shreds.

Kilala bites down on the finger trap next. Nope. Then Ah-Un tries too. Nope.

Shippō tries next, "Fox Fire!"

It doesn't work, but Inuyasha's and Sesshōmaru's sleeves do catch fire.

Everyone's eyes widen…

"Aaaah!" Shippō spins off to the sky blasting off again! *ping~*

Then Jaken appears, "Ha! That little fire simply wasn't strong enough!" he raises the Staff of Two Heads readying it to shoot flames—

"Aaaaah!" Jaken spins off to the sky blasting off again! *ping~*

They try sawing through it with swords and smashing it with rocks too, they even try some fireworks, but it all fails…

Everyone standing slumps their shoulders exhausted by the efforts; Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru close their eyes and sigh, wondering why life hates them so.

They all walk back to where they first got stuck in the finger trap. Inuyasha walks behind Sesshōmaru… after that brutal mauling, he'd rather not have his back to him, or even be next to him.

They decide to wait there. Some hours pass with the boys being surprisingly silent. Nothing like almost shredding your little brother's ear to bits with your teeth to show him his place.

*kree*  
"Wow…"  
"You've really gone at it, huh?"

Everyone's head perks up – the rabbits – a blur of white and red…

"_**Uuuaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!**_"

"Ses…shōmaru…" Inuyasha tries to back away from his snarling brother who has caught the dark brown rabbit. With his teeth. By the neck.

"_**Aaaah! Aaaaah! Aaaaaaah! Aah Aah Aah Aaaah!**_" the rabbit starts sobbing desperately.  
"I dun wanna die-uuhhhhh….!"

"Sesshōmaru… what the hell?"

But he only glares back, now if only he could run away…

"Look rabbit, you better start talking," he looks at Sesshōmaru, "because I think he'll seriously break your neck if you don't."

"But… Mate already told you, we don't know…" Sesshōmaru tightens his grip, "_**AAAAAAHHHHH! I SWEAR! WE REALLY DON'T!**_"

"Really…?"

In between frantic choking sniveling sobs, "No… we, we learned how to use i-it… from word of mouth, but… *sobs* we never, we never learned how to undo it… please," in a pleading whisper, "don't let him eat me…"

Inuyasha's face turns pale – oh god, then…?

Everyone else comes over.

"There's really nothing you can do?"

"Maybe you can cut your fingers off… Aaaaah! Neverm-_aieee_-nd!"

And then, before Sesshōmaru, a trap door with the other rabbit, the light one, opens.

Ears pulled down, eyes watering, tail quivering, actually its whole body, and in such a light voice, "Please… Mr. Dog Demon… w-we're telling the truth. I-I already told you th-the only thing we know about undoing it is: you n-nuh-need to _relax_… There must be s-some amount of… love between those trapped – you need to show kindness. Please… can, can you show some kindness, and let Hake go…? he's my brother…"

The other rabbit keeps sobbing, "Please mister…"

"…."

The rabbit falls to the ground, "Aaahh-umph…" and lies there trembling, the fur around its neck a scuffed up mess. His brother helps him sit up and holds him.

"Th-th-thank-k y-you…"

Sesshōmaru's expression has returned to being deadpan.

Inuyasha, "Now what?"

Sesshōmaru turns around walking toward the forest while dragging Inuyasha along.

"Wait! Where the-? What about our swords!" but he's ignored.

They walk deep into the forest. When Sesshōmaru stops he turns around to face Inuyasha.

"Why'd you bring me out here?"

*sigh* "There isn't… another… choice."

"…Where are you getting at?"

He looks down, "Hug me."

His eyes widen, "What…?"

Sesshōmaru looks right into Inuyasha's eyes, "We have to."

"Hug?"

"Yes. Don't make me say it again."

"But… uh…"

"This is our last option."

*blush* "I'm the one who's going to need to do all the hugging you know…"

"I'll, I'll…" he can't bring himself to say that word, "like how we woke up after the ink attack."

"….Okay."

"You have to mean it."

"So do you."

*Pause….*

They approach each other, and look around to make sure there aren't any witnesses, but before Inuyasha hugs him he stops.

"We should think happy thoughts, right?" asks Inuyasha.

"Yes, that's a good point."

They pause and look around vaguely.

They don't… really have any happy thoughts of each other to think about…

Their eyes wander around and they look at the ground, the trees, and bushes, the sky and then Sesshōmaru says, "Do you-? You said you still remember…"

He turns to look at him, "Do you remember… when you were five and still had a tail?"

Inuyasha nods a little.

They get close and Inuyasha puts his left arm around Sesshōmaru.

"You need to lean in your head," corrects Sesshōmaru.

"I'm surprised you even know what a hug is."

"Shut up and lean your head in."

He does. Inuyasha rests the left side of his face on Sesshōmaru's collar and Sesshōmaru puts his cheek on top of Inuyasha's head.

"Nothing's happening yet."

"Be patient. And besides, you're not doing it right."

He looks up, "What kind of-?"

"You need to… need to… s… sn-snuggle."

Inuyasha stares at him… *sweatdrop*

"Stop looking at me like that and just do it."

"Fine, fine, calm down."

This time they actually do snuggle and close their eyes trying to remember… something.

The birds chirp and hop around the branches, flying here and there.  
Some butterflies flutter near the flowers, and hey, look, a cricket!

Inuyasha pushes away, "I'm sorry… I…"

"What?"

"I can't… it's just that…" he looks down and gives a forced smirk, "You haven't… exactly made it easy to focus on some faint, blurry, happy memory with… all that you've done since then," he looks up at him, "but you've made _those_ memories very clear…"

He looks down again, and Sesshōmaru looks to the side.

Inuyasha looks at the finger trap.  
You need to relax – There must be some amount of love between those trapped – You need to show kindness.  
That's what they said…

And then very quietly, "I'm sorry."

Inuyasha looks up wide-eyed and stares at Sesshōmaru who is still looking away.

Sesshōmaru's eyes look at him, and then he turns his head too, "I… haven't been the best… older male figure in your life, especially since… you didn't have any."

He doesn't respond.

"You really don't remember?"

Inuyasha shakes his head, "It's too blurry, and besides… I always kinda thought that, that it was something I… made-up."

"Oh…"

Inuyasha inhales, "Sesshōmaru..."

"I've been told many times that I look like our father."

"What?" he looks right into Sesshōmaru's face causing him to back away a little from the suddenness.

"Wait… why are you telling me?"

"It might help you relax."

"…."

"Father obviously cared for you, no matter how fleeting the meeting was and…" he cuts off noticing how Inuyasha's _looking_ at him.

No, it wasn't a glare, he was genuinely curious. As if he stared long enough into Sesshōmaru's face that that would somehow conjure up some impossible memory of their father.

"And…" but Sesshōmaru noticed that there was a look of longing to Inuyasha's eyes too. He wanted a memory…

Sesshōmaru closed the gap between them, leaning and brushing his face against Inuyasha's hair and ears, "And he would have been proud of you."

They hold still and close, and the finger trap dissolves away.

*klak* *klak*

Both look to the side and there are the rabbits again but this time with the swords lying before them. They quickly jump toward them and each grabs his respective sword slipping it back into his sash, but again the rabbits duck back into their holes.

They appear again behind them.

"What did you want with our swords?"  
"Did someone send you?"

"Nothing," they both chirp, "and nope."

"Then why did you steal them?"

"Because," they answer.  
The light one, "You're famous."  
The dark one, "For being the dog brothers who are hunting the spider."  
Mate, "But you two try to kill each other too."  
Hake, "That's no way to act."

"Then was this… a lesson?"

"What are you talking about?" asks Hake, but he gets nudged by the other rabbit.  
Mate, "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't."

"Then why did you do any of this?"

Both, "It was fun~!" they giggle with their paws to their mouth.

*twitch twitch*

Sesshōmaru points at Inuyasha, "We hugged."  
Inuyasha points at Sesshōmaru, "He almost bit my ear off."

"Live and learn~ forgive and forget~" then they pose back-to-back while making dramatic gestures, "_HakeMate!_" and they sink into the ground while laughing evilly at the stunt they just pulled.

"Get back here!" Inuyasha tries to reach for them but they're gone, "Dammit."

When Inuyasha turns around he sees Sesshōmaru already leaving, "Where are you going?"

"Is it of any importance to you?" he answers without looking back.

"… Then was all that a lie?"

"Hmm?"

"What you just said – did you mean any of it?"

"I _do _resemble our father."

"….And the rest?"

*scoffs* "You can't honestly believe that I turned over a new leaf within a mere **day** of being stuck to you. That would be absurd," he looks over at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha stands there, flushed, frustrated, hands in fists, face twitching.

Sesshōmaru looks away and walks, "I didn't realize I was so convincing."

Inuyasha raises his chin, biting down on his lip, ears moving quite weirdly, "Gh – bvh..kr ugh…." His lips tremble and from incoherent random noises he at last lashes out, "See! This is why I don't like you!" His voice cracked a bit from the stress.

"You certainly didn't mind that hug."

"Shut your *bleep* trap, you *bleep* rotten, soulless, deceiving and – Agh! _Go to hell ya *bleep* sonuvabitch!_"

Inuyasha had squeezed his eyes shut in anger, and when he opened them he found Sesshōmaru right there, closing in, raising his hand to Inuyasha's head, to his ear….

He flinches back! *pat pat*

"There there, little brother…"

Inuyasha steps back and sissy-slaps away Sesshōmaru's hand, "What the hell's wrong with you? You're telling me 'there there' but then you're just gonna go ahead and do something-"

"What?" he smirks and with a tone of light sarcasm, "I'll hurt your feelings?"

*blush* "You know, you said that you look like Dad."

Eyebrow raise from Sesshōmaru.

"The least you could do, seeing as how you are his image – the older brother, with memories of him, more experienced and mature, and the one who inherited the sword of healing – you could act like him a little!"

Eyebrow twitch from Sesshōmaru, "What?"

Inuyasha pouts, crossing his arms, and then looks at Sesshōmaru with an expression that's reminiscent of a 12-year-old, "I'm upset."

*Hmph* he turns toward him and reaches his arms out at Sesshōmaru.

"What are you doing?"

He holds Sesshōmaru, "You're the closest person to Dad: you look like him and you're older than me – it's your responsibility to comfort me when I'm upset." He keeps pouting like a kid, then plops his head onto Sesshōmaru's shoulders.

"What kind of-?"

Right in Sesshōmaru's face, "Hey, you abandoned me, and you have to make up for it – act like a surrogate to dad – that's basically what you're supposed to be!"

"Uh…"

*plop* *_huggle_*

Eyelid twitch from Sesshōmaru- _Why me…? Fine. If he wants to play around like this, then I may as well give him what he wants…._

Sesshōmaru softly places his hand atop Inuyasha's head, and rests his face on Inuyasha's bangs, "I'm here, my sweet and adorable little brother-puppy."

"What?"

"You wanted me to act a little more like our father, and here you have it," he responds while gently rocking Inuyasha and himself side-to-side in a somewhat circular motion.

And that's the truth… _~*~Mini-flashback~*~_Father wrapped his arms around a 12- to- 13-year-old-ish looking Sesshōmaru's shoulders and brought him to his chest; he got pretty damn pink – like a peach you could say? "My dear little puppy…"

"My, you're just adorable!"  
Sesshōmaru's eyes got big fast, "I've told you before! Stop saying that!"  
Father looked at him with innocent confusion, "What? That you're adorable?"  
"Nnnn… Yes! That!" He got cherry-red, "Stop calling me 'adorable'!"  
Father pouted at him, "But… you **are** adorable!"…_~*~End Mini-flashback~*~_

And now Inuyasha is the one who is the color of a cherry, albeit, it's probable that Sesshōmaru is pink – on the _inside_.

Inuyasha tries to push himself away. Do. Not. Want. Too. Awkward.  
"Let go of me!"

"This is what you wanted you ignorant half-breed!" he grips harder on Inuyasha's head, but he manages to escape his hold (well, he does only have one arm…).

Inuyasha runs off, "Get away from me!"

"The least I can do, seeing as how I'm our father's image – the older brother, with memories of him, _**far **_more experienced and mature, and the one who inherited the sword of healing; I abandoned you, and I have to make up for it: let me take on the responsibilities of being your father-figure, little brother…" Sesshōmaru runs after him, with a sly smirk and a gleam in his eyes.

"Don't, don't say that in such a creepy way…" but he immediately accelerates his pace as he sees his brother getting closer, an aura about him that only a big brother could have: torturing his younger brother for his own amusement like a jerk.

"No no, please!"

As Inuyasha runs Sesshōmaru takes a leap and plants a foot right on Inuyasha's back causing him to fall flat on his face. Sesshōmaru kneels down, keeping a leg on Inuyasha's back, and on top of that he twists his arm behind his back.

"Ah ah – ow! Get off me! You're heavy!"

"Live and learn, forgive and forget remember?"

*sweatdrop*  
*_twiiiiist_*  
"Aaaaaahhh!"

"I expect a worthy apology from you if you don't want to lose an arm… or an ear," he growls.

Inuyasha flails around trying to free himself, half-wanting to say Sesshōmaru's winded apology and half-wanting to cuss him out, scared that he might just try to aim for the ear again, but pissed as hell that he's trying to make him do this to begin with.

The bunnies stare on, "Wow… they're sure daysfunshunal, huh?"  
"Eee-yup."  
*giggle*

To the skies, Inuyasha's yelps in pain…

"Okay okay, I'm SORRY!"

"Damn right you are!"

*_twiiiiist_*

"That's no fair…!"

* * *

ハケマテ

(hah-keh-mah-teh)

_jaque mate_

**"checkmate"**

Katakana- Pronunciation- Spanish- English.


End file.
